


Gaffer Knows Best

by puckity



Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: First Meetings, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Young Hobbits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-08
Updated: 2007-01-08
Packaged: 2018-02-07 18:22:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1909080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puckity/pseuds/puckity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frodo and Sam meet for the first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gaffer Knows Best

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2007 for LJ user melyanna_65; my first LotR fic.
> 
> Self-beta'd.
> 
> You can also follow me on [Tumblr](http://puckity.tumblr.com/).

Hamfast Gamgee always said that there was something not quite right about those Bagginses. The rest of Hobbiton was always on about how improper it was for hobbits to be going on adventures and how odd Master Bilbo had been since he came back from wherever it was he’d gone. As most hobbits are, Hamfast believed in minding one’s own business and tending to one’s own affairs and not getting caught up in foolishness like magic and quests. But his master’s interest in these sorts of things didn’t offend him; Bilbo had always treated him with kindness and respect and he’d never had a quarrel with the way his master was. Still, when he heard that Bilbo had agreed to take in his orphaned nephew he’d been generally pleased. By way of raising a child, perhaps that air of queerness would dissolve from around him.

"You will be gentle with him, won’t you Hamfast?" Bilbo had been fretting since first breakfast over the arrival of his new ward. At the moment, his gardener was trying to keep him from pacing over the newly seeded snapdragons. "You can be rather gruff in your manners, and Frodo is a sensitive lad."

"Beggin’ your pardon Master Bilbo, but from what I’ve heard over at Buckland your nephew has enough spirit to be meetin’ me." Hamfast had never been one for gossip, but he’d kept his ears open about this boy. Bilbo gave him a slightly disapproving look but said nothing in his nephew’s defense.

"He’s about the same age as my Samwise, this Frodo is?" Hamfast tried to sound as though he hadn’t already heard as much from others. Bilbo paused, looking thoughtful.

"A bit older, I think."

"Well, I was goin’ to bring Samwise over to meet him when he gets here. Maybe the lad can learn a thing or two from the young Master Baggins." Lately, his son had been eager to hear Bilbo’s tales of elves and faraway lands and Hamfast worried that the boy was growing too empty-minded. A master his age was just what Samwise needed to chase away all these fanciful thoughts.

"Ah, yes." Bilbo remarked quietly. "Frodo does not have many friends—apart from those troublesome cousins of his, Meriadoc and Peregrin. He was quite alone with his parents. I think Samwise would be a fine influence on him." Just then the loud clanking of wagon wheels sounded down the path and Bilbo jumped, nervous again. "Oh, he’s here!"

He raced to the gate of Bag End while Hamfast followed cautiously behind him. When he reached the hedge between his and his master’s hobbit holes, he called out to his son who was weeding their small garden.

"Samwise Gamgee, clean your hands off and make yourself respectable! Your new master’s almost here!"

The boy stood and frantically wiped at his clothes, but the end result was far less presentable than he’d been before. Red-faced, he hurried over to his father just as the covered cart came to a stop in front of 1 Bagshot Row.

Bilbo’s tenseness must have been catching, because Hamfast felt his stomach start to tighten. Short greetings were shared between the cart’s driver and his master and then, finally, out of the back climbed a young hobbit. Staring at his thin frame, Hamfast wondered what all the excitement had been about.

"Frodo, my dear nephew! I’m so glad you’ve come at last! And how was your journey? Not too trying, I hope." Bilbo fussed about him like a doting mother.

"My trip was well, uncle. My aunts and uncles at Buckland send their thanks to you." Hamfast listened to his speech and was impressed by the finery of it. He was a little master indeed.

"Well, well. I expect they are glad to be rid of another playmate for Meriadoc. Such trouble that child causes." Bilbo shook his head. "But come, my boy. Let us get you settled in your new home." They all began to walk up the hill towards the front door, and Hamfast wondered if Bilbo had forgotten about him entirely.

"Ah!" Bilbo stopped cold, as if remembering something rather important. "This is Hamfast Gamgee, the gardener of Bag End. You are to pay his words close attention, Frodo." The boy turned and looked up at the older hobbit.

For the rest of his days, Hamfast would always remember clearly the first time he met Master Frodo. Even though he was just a lick of a lad, there was something overwhelming about him. His skin was pale as first snow and he moved with the sense of a dream. But it was his eyes that were strangest of all. So big, so clear—like he could look right through someone. That queer Baggins’ air hung thick around him. When he spoke it was so softly that Hamfast had to strain to hear him.

"I am pleased to meet you, Hamfast Gamgee."

Hamfast nodded curtly. "You may call me The Gaffer, young master. And this here," he pushed Samwise out from behind him. "This is my son, Samwise. He’ll be takin’ over my place as gardener of Bag End some day." Samwise looked terrified, but his father squeezed his shoulder hard and he tentatively held out a filthy hand.

"I’m Sam-Samwise Gamgee, sir. Pleased to me-meet you, Mister Frodo sir." Samwise stammered and blinked rapidly as though he was on the brink of tears.

Frodo’s eyes darted between Samwise’s quivering face and his trembling hand. Hamfast was very nearly ready to apologize for such forward behavior towards his master, but suddenly the young Baggins smiled and his face began to glow like a star. Samwise stopped shaking.

"I’ve very pleased to meet you, Samwise Gamgee." He took the dirt-stained hand without hesitation. "I think we shall be very great friends."

"Friends!" Hamfast muttered, shocked at such immodesty. He continued to be shocked by the silly grin that spread over his son’s face and the newly kindled brightness in his eyes. Pulling him away from Frodo, he scolded, "Enough of your idling, Samwise! Back to work for you!"

Shoulders slumped, Samwise trudged back to his own garden. But Frodo called after him, "You must come and visit soon, Sam!"

Blushing deeply, Samwise returned, "Very soon, Mister Frodo." Then he scurried down the hill, Hamfast watching his retreating figure with disbelief.

Yes, Hamfast thought, already certain that he had initiated something unnatural between those two. Many years later, he still would not be sure of what it was exactly that had bloomed that first day between his son and the nephew of his master. Whatever it was, it was wholly un-hobbitlike. Sometimes he wondered if maybe he shouldn’t have brought them together at all, but then he would see that brightness in Sam’s eyes—that shining happiness that only sparkled when he was near Master Frodo—and didn’t have the heart to keep thinking such things.

Hamfast wasn’t a particularly clever hobbit, but he knew some things well enough. He knew that those two lads needed each other in ways he could not understand and he knew that what the hobbit wives whispered about in town was thoroughly true. There was something awfully strange about those Bagginses.


End file.
